Tag Archives: Gran Turismo

Calsonic Skyline

This is the Calsonic-sponsored Nissan Skyline GT-R R34 from the early-’00s Japan Grand Touring Car Championship, but of course, you probably already knew that.

Whilst Alexander Paschoaletto‘s brilliant Skyline GT-R R34 doesn’t say ‘Calsonic’ anywhere on it, we (and most likely you) would have recognised it anywhere. That’s because this car is burned into our psyche (and retinas) from Gran Turismo, where it has, in various generations, featured as one of the star cars for over two decades.

White 3D-printed wheels, blue bodywork, and a yellow sun-strip have transported us right back to hours of early-’00s pixellated racing, and you can join us at the Deep Forest Raceway courtesy of Alexander’s photostream via the link above.

Suzuki’s Peak

If you’re of a certain age (like this TLCB Writer) then you will absolutely know this car.

Playstation’s Gran Turismo 2 ruled racing games in the late ’90s. Populated with all manner of awesome mostly-Japanese cars from the county’s car-building zenith, pixilated racing glory could be yours at the wheel of an Impreza, a Skyline GT-R, a Supra, an RX-7, or a multitude of other machinery.

Of course you had to work your way up through a soup of crappy Suzukis and Daihatsus to get to the good stuff, but even they had some late ’90s monsters available in digital form. OK, Daihatsu didn’t, but Suzuki did; the mighty Escudo Pikes Peak.

Based on the humble Vitara (although it resembled the Vitara about as much as this TLCB Writer does Ryan Reynolds), the Escudo Pikes Peak produced almost 1,000bhp from a mid-mounted bi-turbo V6, and could do o-60mph in 3.5 seconds. On gravel.

Built for one race (the Pikes Peak…), the Suzuki Escudo won the 1995 event in the hands Nobuhiro Tajima, before he returned in the mid-’00s to win a further six consecutive Pike Peaks with Suzuki, by which time the Escudo was already a legend with an entire generation of Playstation owners.

This instantly recognisable Speed Champions homage to the iconic Gran Turismo 2 star and Suzuki outlier comes from Sergio Batista, with custom decals and bespoke wheels maximising the realism (far beyond what 1999 gaming graphics could manage…).

Building instructions are available and you can re-live your youth at Sergio’s photostream via the link above.

GT-One

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Toyota have a long history in motorsport, and have won both the World Rally Championship and World Endurance Championship. Their current Le Mans contender, the TS050, looks as beautiful as ever, following the TS030 and TS040 racing cars of the last few years. Unfortunately for Toyota, so far none of these cars has managed to claim outright victory at the Le Mans 24 Hours endurance race, with each coming second to the dominance of the Volkswagen Group.

Back in the late 90s it was a similar story, as Toyota’s glorious TS020, better known as the GT-One, fought it out against the Germans of Porsche, Mercedes-Benz and BMW. Ultimately the GT-One came second to BMW due to its hunger for tyres (and a series of huge crashes), but the car has lived on as something of a legend in the virtual world, becoming one of the stars of the Gran Turismo and Forza franchises.

The GT-One pictured here comes from Heiko Ruutel of MOCpages, who has recreated the road-going version of the car from the aforementioned games, and he’s done it brilliantly. His Lego version of the bonkers late ’90s racer looks every inch as good as the real car and it’s just as detailed underneath too, with a superb chassis and engine bay. You can see all of the photos of Heiko’s build – including those chassis shots – via MOCpages here.

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